Filled dough products such as snacks, cookies, pies, filled cakes, and pizza pockets are increasing in popularity. Device and methods for forming filled dough products are known.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,241,649 describes "an apparatus for making a filled tubular food product in which tubular dough piece are extruded onto a supporting die member which maintains the internal diameter ofthe cavity in the dough piece during raising and baking after which the cavity in the baked dough product is filled with another relatively softer food product."
U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,430 describes that a "tubular center filled food product having a rigid, friable, thermoplastic baked outer shell and a core of edible filling material is produced by a continuous, straight-through process. A semi-liquid batter having a relatively high content of mono- and/or di-saccharides is carried between a pair of spaced-apart moving heated surfaces and baked to form a continuous, elongated flat thermoplastic sheet having a controlled thickness. The continuous thermoplastic sheet while warm and pliable is rolled around its longitudinal axis to form a continuous tube having a closed longitudinal, non-overlapping seam. As the baked sheet is rolled around its longitudinal axis, an edible filling material is injected into the core of the continuous tube as it is formed. The filled tube is cooled until the outer shell becomes rigid and is then cut into pieces of a desired length."
The known devices and methods, however, are intended for use in creating individual filled dough products. To increase production rates, these known devices and methods can be employed in parallel production lines, however, each production line must form its own continuous dough sheet. Moreover, each resulting product must be individually handled for proofing, baking, freezing, and packaging purposes.
It is known to apply multiple continuous filling lines to a continuous sheet of dough, wrap the dough sheet over the filling lines, and crimp the dough sheet between the filling lines to form multiple structurally-connected, yet dough-surrounded filling lines. Once the continuous sheet of dough is cut into individual products, an attempt can be made to separate the resulting dough-surrounded filling segments along the crimp line into individual dough sticks. Separating the dough sticks along the crimp line, however, typically results in breaking of the dough surrounding the filling segment, thereby resulting in dough sticks of unacceptable quality.
Also, although it is known to terminate a filled dough product by cutting its end, such a practice leaves the filling at least partially exposed rather than completely covered with dough. Moreover, although it is known to crimp exposed ends of filled dough products, doing so causes a portion of the filling to be trapped within the crimp, causing a weaker crimp than if only dough material were crimped. Exposed ends and weak end crimps are subject to leakage or "blowout" of the filling when the filled dough product is heated or cooked. Such blowouts are unattractive, messy, and dangerous, as hot filling or steam can suddenly escape from the filled dough product, potentially burning the operator or consumer.